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Canada’s Conservatives lead in polls

Nearly 39 percent of respondents surveyed by Nanos said they backed Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives versus 28 percent support for the main opposition Liberals, led by Michael Ignatieff.

In another Ipsos Reid poll for Postmedia News, Canadians chose honest, open and trustworthy governance over the economy as the main issue in the next election, but in a major blow to the Liberals they ranked the Tories as the best party to deliver a government they can trust.

The Liberals had trumpeted good governance in the lead up to a likely election while the embattled Conservatives called on Canadians to “stay the course” in support of their plans to firm a shaky economic recovery.

“You can see people want to have ethical government. They’re not wrong about that. What they (the Liberals) are wrong about is seeing themselves as the people who are capable of delivering it,” Ipsos Reid president Darrell Bricker told the Ottawa Citizen.

The pollster suggested the Liberals are still haunted by a sponsorship scandal years ago that saw federal advertising funds kicked back to the party.

The past two elections in 2006 and 2008, resulted in back-to-back minority Conservative governments. To remain in power, the Tories need the support of at least one of Canada’s three opposition parties.

The opposition parties are threatening to topple the government and force an election this week either over the federal budget or alleged contempt of parliament.